Livan Hernandez faces James McDonald in Game 1 of today's doubleheader.

Who wants to play two for the price of one? Yes, we've got an old-fashioned doubleheader today at Nationals Park. This afternoon's game is a makeup from the May 17 (non-)rainout between these two teams, and it will be followed immediately by the originally scheduled 7:05 p.m. game.

A couple of reminders: One ticket gets you into both games. If you hold a rain check from that May 17 game, you'll need to exchange it for a comparable seat today. If you hold a ticket for tonight's originally scheduled game, you're good to go and can show up anytime.

Also, be aware that the first game will not be televised anywhere because Fox has exclusive rights to the 4-7 p.m. window. MASN2 will come on the air at 7 p.m. and show the second game in its entirety (or the conclusion of the first game if it hasn't ended yet).

I, of course, will be covering both games in their entirety, so be sure to check back for plenty of updates here…

Not nearly enough recognition of Desi in the last post's comments. He has a lot of detractors, but if you want to know why the staff loves him, just look at the photo with the post, where he's out there giddily celebrating with the guy who he was yanked for. That attitude can be in my clubhouse any day.

Right on, NatinBeantown! I thought the same thing. Many other guys would have been sulking in the dugout. I sure hope you get to see these guys in person while you are here!I like our pitching against theirs today. I am glad Livo is pitching the "day" game becagame then he can watch the second game with as much abandon as usual. I truly think his zeal and love for the team helps them all be better. I hope he is his usual wiley self and that it's a fast game.GYFNG!

Of course there were those few posters when the original game was postponed early on that day who said it would be moved to July 4th weekend for profit motivations. Now we see that one ticket gets you both games. Of course those people with hate and venom would never say they were wrong. I am out of town and exchanged my tix for another game. Everyone have fun!!!!

I also do not think Desi has gotten enough credit for his attitude last night. He also deserves a lot of credit for his improved defense. We have all made a big deal about him being nervous before his child was born – but we seem to have forgotten that he has a tiny baby back home that he rarely sees. Despite his great attitude, maturity and obvious work ethic – he is being dinged for his low BA – on this team? There are worse offenders who have not shown as much plus side as he does. This is a big season for him, let's let him play it out and continue to grow.

Desi was mostly responsible for the winning run scoring with Bixler on that Chicago 14 inning game. He hustled down the line causing Alexi Ramirez to hurry his throw which skipped by the 1st baseman for an error.It is the little things he does like all those steals and hustle plays and playing hurt. If he can get above a .320 OBP, things would be great.

Agree re. Desi's attitude. I liked Mark's account of the exchange between Johnson and Desi before the pinch hit AB. I'd actually posit that such an attitude (team-first?) is not limited to him on this team. Nobody seemed to be sulking about batting ninth back in the day, for instance.Glad to know that Mark will be covering both games, as I can catch up on what happened after the fact. Will be at the P-Nats this evening and will miss most of the radio call on game 1. Did set the DVR for game 2, but it's nice to read the thread after the fact for a quick synopsis (as well as the in-game sturm und drang :-)).Have fun, and, in closing, GYFNG and GYFPNG!

Me four on Desi!I'd be nice if Desmond were to improve on his offensive stats of last year, but yeah IMHO he is the heart of this team–sorta like Pee Wee, even with his less than stellar stats, was the heart of the Dodgers.The Kid is all baseball!

Mark, the lineup as shown above has Ramos listed as catching.Also, once the attendance is announced can you please post it – you do this sometimes and it is useful information to add to a scorecard, thanks.

Back in the 70's the Expos had a catcher named Barry Foote; everyone loved him. Great guy tremendous attitude, hustled etc (hit .210); he was replaced by a brash, cocky not so popular player named Gary Carter. I think you know the rest. I am sure Desi is a wonderful player, with a great attitude and desire to win and I wish he could be part of a championship Nationals team in the future but then there is that OPS of .260; hard to ignore that long term (.320 is league average).

Not sure we have the "good" Livan this afternoon, they have rocked most of his stuff so far. Hope he will settle down and we can somehow start to hit.I love Charlie and Dave but would have liked to have seen a replay of the double play that was not a double play. Of course it can't be changed but it sounds like a tough luck call.Go Nats!!

Tim: Yeah, several places had the order incorrect, including the Nats' official game notes until midday yesterday. I used that when putting together my series preview yesterday morning, so I didn't realize the correct order until I got to the park today.

This is the new Regime under Davey J?Last night's game8th inningScore is tied 1-1Runners on 1st and 2ndNo outsWerth due up — hitting .220 + or -Zimmerman due up next — a double play makerStoren ready to goDoes Davey bunt?NopeResults" Werth – K Zim – K both lookingInning ends 1-1 runners still on first and second.I was not only shocked we didnt attempt to advance the runner, but concerned that Davey isnt all there.

Anon @ 4:11. What you are doing is second guessing after the fact. in the situation you described it has been statistically proven that you score more runs without sacrificing than with especially when your 2,3,4 hitters are due. If it had worked you wouldn't be here congratulating DJ; you are not that kind of poster.

JD: it seems that most anons post here to criticize, not sure they really support the team. They get to crush whoever is in charge and rarely do you see an anon congratulating anyone. The person that's "not all there" is the person who will not put a name to his criticism. That person is basically a coward. Even though most of us do not actually reveal who we are, at least we have a handle so people can respond to us. Back to baseball, have to believe Werth will not start the 2nd game of this double header, he is struggling big time. Looks like Livan is settling in.Go Nats

JD lol How on earth do you know that kind of poster I am? I now know what kind of poster you are, though.I'll have to the citation backing up your statistical statement.Secondly, do your stats hold true even when your number 2 is hittingb 220 with 75K's, and your number three is hitting .235, and your number four is hitting 260 and falling? I don't think so.Plus, my extreme friend, if the strategy had been put in play and worked, I would have been extolling Johnson virtues.Dont be so knee-jerk judgemental — it's not very polite.

SJM: Seems that you are another impolite poster. Seems to me that everyone here, Anons included, get responded to. Plus (chuckling) you said it yourself, a handle is still anonynmous and responding to an Anon is equally as easy as responding to SJM 308, whoever that coward is.Post your name and email address and start calling people cowards and other names. ?? You're not a coward, are you?

Anon @ 4:50. Why don't you work out what would have happened if Werth sacrificed? Let's see; Zim struck out and Nix Struck out. No runs. Still 1-1. Now; you can't treat Werth like a .220 hitter because he's never been that before this year and Zim is not a .235 hitter despite what the small sample says.

Re Desmond's offense. In the past I have written (more than once) that Desi's offensive stats as a rookie were at least comparable to any American League shortstop, with the exception on Chicago's Ramirez. And he was at least as good as one half of NL shortstops. There were never any comments on these posts. It's human nature, I guess, not to acknowledge a comment that does not fit the framework of one's own idea on the subject.It's great to see, on the posts today, however, so many supporters of this dynamic, potentially terrific young player. That's to differentiate between one of the anons, who seems to have made it his personal quest to tear the shortstop apart ad nauseum. Of course, it would have to be an anon.

Jeeves, I am not now nor have I ever posted as Anon. My criticism of Desmond is not personal but rather based on performance. Your definition of 'potentially terrific young player' is interesting. But at what point is potential expected to turn into consistent results?

Lets be honest, Nix and Ankiel are really 4th outfielders at this point in their career. Best lineup would be a healthy LaRoche at 1b and Morse in LF but that isn't happening. Brown has not shown much at Syr. so I am guessing this is what we are stuck with. I do agree that I like Morse at #4 and actually think Werth would be more comfortable at #5. Has Zimm ever struggled like this in his career? I don't remember this difficult a stretch.

JD / SJM308 et alThanks for posting that link .. I was surprised to see the company that Desi is keeping: 0.4 along with Hanley Ramirez, both right behind Jeter at 0.5So, yeah, ideally you want your SS to be a strongly positive (e.g., high WAR) player or at least showing improvement, especially if you think that your team is going to contendMark in Arlington

I hate Fox.. like I give a rat's patooty about the Mets/Yanks (at least the Yanks are beating the Mets). I want Bob and FP or at least a picture to go with Charlie and Dave!What's with today's umps? Are they from Pittsburgh?

Kicked back on my deck with a beer, with Charlie and Dave on the radio. With no tv coverage, I thought I would miss it. Just forgot how much I like listening to them, though. Sounds like the game is getting out of control now – Bernie and Burnett — Maybe a few more beers will kill the pain? Let's save the rest of the bullpen for tonight's game and go for the curly W.

As I read the comments, I'm thinking what an impatient group we are. Although the front office and coaching staff says we're playing the games to win, we have to remember that with a young team, we have to develop players at the same time AT THE MAJOR LEAGUE LEVEL. There's nothing like MLB games to teach young players. AAA/AA games won't do it.We also need to remember that 2011 is NOT our year. Our playoff run begins next year. Do I want to see us win? Of course. But I'm willing to put up with the learning curve. After all, when Harper, Rendon, et al get up here, they'll make mistakes and swing at bad pitches, too.Forget what I just said… Get rid of Burnett! LOL!

Nothing worse than struggling against your former mates. Did I hear that Reyes is injured and the Mets are losing? Michele – I agree , I hate Fox, but at least they are not covering our game this week. They are truly terrible. I also despise anything NY-related. And – I am trying to channel my hostile emotions onto something other than my beloved nats, who are making me crazy.

TimTotally agree this is not our year and devloping at the MLB level is not a good idea. I would be satisfied with some well played games and that we are competitive – which is what we are getting for the most part

The good news is that Burnie is unlikely to appear in the 2d game.I don't know what's going on with him, and I hope he gets it sorted out, but he needs to do so somewhere other than in high pressure (tied/close) games. He has no options left, I think, so maybe we can hope for some blow-outs–preferably by rather than against the Nats.As for what's not worthy of being considered in adult conversations – I'd say the opinions of neganons, for starters.

What do you consider the important stats in evaluating a player? I realize from reading here that batting ave. is for old guys like me and not as good an evaluation as some of the others. Not that my opinion matters but I like Desmond and although I realize we have options in the minors with MI butI see no reason right now to make moves.When is the last time Pudge has homered? Here he comes with 2 men on.

I understand the overall situation of the Nats right now and appreciate the improvements. That being said – once you get a taste of winning, it's very addicting. In the heat of the game, it's just frustrating as all get out to see these flashes of greatness, followed by epic mistakes. No tv coverage – how is the crowd today? I can hear them on the radio. Sounds like Danny almost created some fireworks again. He is a real treasure to this team. Another inning fizzles out. Keep after it guys!

sjm308Silly neganons aside–yes, WAR is probably the best way to do it. The fact is that Desmond has made great strides with his defense this year. There's no way they punish him for that by sending him down to the minors, esp. not when there is reason to expect his offense to come back around to at least acceptable levels.

Anon 6:11..Umm do you consider being at .500 in July an improvement? The fact that we are even playing meaningful baseball and this team hasn't rolled over an croked is a HUGE improvement over the last several seasons.Plus I consider this only YEAR 2 of the Nats.. Anything related to Jim Bowden doesn't count since he was a HORRIBLE GM!

Responding to an anon: (how unique)I am not frustrated. I have lost TWO teams and neither played that well but what I really lost was baseball, and now, I have that back. That is the key to me, I can go to a rather nice stadium, watch big league play (the ground ball to the infield where the runner is out by a step still intrigues me- its amazing that 90 feet makes that play close, all the time.) Would I like a winner, sure, but I have baseball, and I share that with my 30 year old son and we have a good time and we get absolutely giddy when we are on a winning streak. He will call after just about every game unless we have gone to the game, Its a great thing and I do get upset with the negativity but realize others are tired of me ranting. So Go Nats!!

I find that it's not so much losing that is discouraging, it's bad baseball. For the most part, the team is playing pretty good baseball. Riggs used to stress that a lot – the effort, the good play. It really is important to remember that if you keep playing hard and improving, the wins will come. In any game, when you focus only on the win/loss column , it's easy to get frustrated. That being said – the hitting needs to improve and no one seems to have any answers for that. To complicate matters, we have to face the 4 best pitchers in baseball ( Lee, Halladay, Jurrgens, Hanson) , statistically — a lot. I have been hearing that offensive stats are down across the major leagues this year and pitching is up. Sure seems like the pitching is tough this year – combine that with weak hitting, and you get lots of goose eggs.

Wow, we only have 6 relievers and DJ has had to use 3 just to get us to the 9th. I guess the good news is we still have Ballestar, Clippard and Storen fresh for tonights game. I realize we have 3 more outs and that is another great thing about this game but it does not look good.Go Nats!

Being .500 at about the half season is certainly nice and unexpected. It shows great improvement in the team that is being built. One of the things that will happen, though, is that the fans will start expecting to win instead of just accepting that we lose all the time. That's not a bad thing – we really don't want a fan base that has given up on winning. Wow – Burnett and Coffey both struggling today. We win the second game tonight, guys. GYFNG – expect it!

Desmond looks lost at the plate — for that matter so does Werth. Desmond was exciting last year when juxtaposed against the then personnel of that team. But his poor plate appearances are glaringly bad this year especially compared with the improved team he has around him now. Desmond's hitting doesnt look curable — frankly, he looks like he hasnt got a clue. I agree with some posters: time to look for an upgrade next season.

MicheleS, I agree, its not pretty right now. You could go with Bixler, or have Ankiel play center and Bernie move to right. We miss Hairston in this spot. (hard to believe I am typing that). I also think that Zimm needs a day but I am guessing both he and Werth on the bench at the same time will not be happening.

Have to agree with MichellS — Werth is going so bad that it's hard to believe. 75 k's at the half? thats alarming. He needs more than sitting down — he needs a fresh approach — uh Eckstein can you help? Or is Werth too unapproachable?

The one thing the Nats STOPPED doing during the hot streak was take less pitches — which taking called strikes was pandemic since April. But Werth and Desmond are still taking too many good pitches. I dont get it. Desmond just now, takes two good ones, and swings at a low and away pitch (the one he should have taken). {throwing up my arms in frustration}